What can a gnat do to stop two elephants or two hippos fighting? At first sight nothing, except to be crushed. So what did African heads of state look for in a galley like that of the Russo-Ukrainian war? Thus, a delegation of four African Heads of State, made up of Presidents Macky Sall of Senegal, Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia, Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, and Azali Assoumani of the Comoros, as well as representatives of the Congolese, Ugandan and Egyptian Presidents were in Ukraine and Russia a few days ago, they said, to mediate between these two countries which have been at war for more than a year. What do Africans have to do with such a thing? some may ask me. An African minister explained on international radio that for a long time, Europeans have been playing the role of mediators in our crises, so it would be normal for Africans to also play the same role today in a European crisis. I dare to believe that it is not only to imitate the Europeans that our four African heads of state have visited these countries. That said, did they go there seriously believing that they would have a chance to influence the outcome of this conflict? By what means could they have imposed anything on either party? Or, did they go there only, or mainly, because we depend largely on these two countries to ensure a good part of our subsistence?
Our four Heads of State therefore went to meet the Ukrainian and Russian Heads of State. For what result? Apparently nothing. Should we expect anything else? In Ukraine, the African mediation was coldly rejected, because it was considered to be a deception of Russia at the time of the Ukrainian counter-offensive. In Russia, they were politely told that their peace plan was difficult to implement. All this to tell them that they would have done better to take care of their onions.
That said, were our leaders right or wrong to get involved in this story? Slimane Zéghidour, an editorial writer for TV5 said this: « Latin America offered to mediate, China started it, the Turks had already committed to it for cereals. It would have been an anomaly that Africa did not present itself, that Africans did not enter the ball to intervene and make the diplomatic way triumph ». From my point of view, it is not because countries from other continents have attempted mediation that Africa should feel obliged to do so too, even if it objectively has no chance of obtaining results. We don't set ourselves up as mediators just because we are Africans, and because Latin Americans, Chinese and Turks have tried it. Great African politicians have, through their own intelligence and skill, their charisma, their experiences, played the role of mediators in crises that took place far from their countries. This was the case of someone like Houphouët-Boigny, who today we know played a major role in the search for a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We know that the first meeting between the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and the then Israeli Prime Minister was a hair's breadth away from being held in Yamoussoukro. But bringing together several Heads of State from different parts of the continent does not automatically give Africa the legitimacy and competence needed to claim to play a mediating role in a war like the one between Russia and Ukraine.
I believe we should learn to be a little more modest and know "where our hand can reach". Wanting at all costs to play a role where we know we have no way of being taken seriously, and where in truth no one expects us, exposes us to ridicule. And I'm afraid that's what happened to our four heads of state and those who accompanied them in this Russian-Ukrainian galley.
By Venance Konan
*This article has been translated from French into English by Marcus Boni Teiga
